Who Are these "Developers"?

[TxDoc]

This may belong in the "off-topic" area, but I was hoping to get more exposure to the target group here...so move it if needed.

It is amazing, at least to me, what developers are able to think up. BUT, incredible that they go from a thought to a functioning application. If I could think up some kind of multiple choice question as a pole, I would, I am guessing that the number of choices would be in the hundreds.

So....are "you" a student. a professional of some sort, a housewife who is rather eclectic and geeky, a computer expert that works with systems and code all day, or what?
How did you get to the point you are? Meaning how did you learn to write apps? What is the next step from the current stage of how they are written? Does the "code" I hear so much about evolve slowly or can it be revolutionary in progressing?

I admire the ingenuity and extent and range the developers have and can go to in order to make the form and function of our phones so much better.

Thanks for your time and effort to reply.

[m3kilpat]

I am not one of those developers...yet. I've just started learning and it's probably going to take awhile before I can do something good. But to answer the immediate question, I am a computer science college student.

[ZeroTruths]

I'm in the same boat as m3kilpat as well.
I am currently in the middle of learning the Android SDK, and am not only learning it on my own, but as well as a part of my job.
To prematurely answer the question, I am a Electrical Engineering student @ UT Austin, but then again, since this will be a part of my job, I suppose I could also say that I'm a professional?

[vegainey]

This should start some flaming, but that is not my intention.

Based on the messages I see in the developer section(s) of this forum, I don't see a much in the way of true developers sharing information.

I see a lot of posts where someone has an idea and wants a developer to build it for them, or someone wants to learn to be a developer.

There is the occasional announcement of a new app that needs beta testing, but other than that, I don't see a lot of developer to developer sharing of information here.

My guess is that most serious android developers use a different forum to talk about developer issues.

As for me, I am an App Architect by profession with 20+ years developer experience in several languages on different hardware platforms including COBOL on mainframe, RPG in iSeries, Visual Basic, C# and a little C++ on Windows, but I don't know Java yet, and I have not written any apps for Android yet.

I have the tools installed, and I am playing with the examples and experimenting with bridging to the Droid just to start learning it.

I am also providing some assistance to others with beta testing their apps while I decide what I want my first App to be.

I'm sure I will have lots of questions once I start building an App.

[atlharry]

I would guess that they would use the official Google forums. This just wouldn't be the best place to post those types of questions. Everyday use questions, yes. Programming questions, no.

I for one, am glad they don't discuss here (not that they aren't welcome). I'm sure they would just get millions of "silly" questions and support requests.

[ZeroTruths]

I don't see why this should start flaming.

The way I see it, these forums are mostly for new people that want to learn how to use the Droid to their maximum potential. The incentive for other, more experienced people to come over is rather low.

[HandDroid]

Here you go. Keys to the kingdom.Android Developers


,
HandDroid

[petjakob]

I'd also recommend trying stackoverflow and anddev.org for more evidence of devs sharing what they learn. My project is full open source as I try to forge some progress into an uncharted area of android 2.0 in the hopes that we'll see a variety of cool custom lockscreens that are a lot better than the existing raffle to be found in the past android versions.

I started with programming just self-teaching in an attempt to do some modding with an open source game that used its own hybrid scripting language built from javascript and C++. I've learned strictly from other open source code & dev provided tutorials, along with the official documentation with the android SDK. It's slow going but I feel I've come a long way overwhelmingly thanks to the helpful nature of other devs in the community.

[Rogue1970]

I am also a developer (by profession) that has not yet started on the Droid platform. My background also includes mainframe (COBOL, DYL280, PROIV), web (VB6, ASP, .NET, HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, DOM, HTA), and some limited windows admin stuff (VB Scripting).

I just ordered my Droid and it should be here middle of next week. I'm looking forward to learning Eclipse / Java for this platform.